Institute of Development Studies

Understanding power for social change

8 April 2010 - Laura Cornish, John Gaventa and Jethro Pettit

As donors, policy makers and civil society organisations recognise the importance of power relations in their work, there is growing demand for better tools to understand power and respond to it strategically. A new online resource guide, powercube.net, now offers both practical methods and conceptual groundings for engaging with power.

Understanding power has become essential for addressing poverty, development, social equality and environmental issues, especially in the context of the aid effectiveness agenda and the increasing complexity of global issues and emerging actors. As these trends are fast-moving, the nature of power itself is in constant flux and so this is not an easy task. A number of IDS researchers, collaborators and students have been exploring methods of power analysis in recent years, and testing their approaches in diverse contexts.

Powercube.net responds to growing requests from around the world for resources to help people think about and respond to power relations both within their organisations, and in the wider social and political issues with which they work. Launched in March 2010, it is designed as an accessible guide for both researchers and practitioners. Its content has been developed as part of a collaborative process involving diverse actors including bilateral donors, NGOs, universities and policy researchers, grassroots organisations and activists. Its tools have been developed through a process of research, evaluation, training workshops and student research projects around the world.

A multidimensional approach to power

Powercube.net brings together diverse resources for understanding power relations in efforts to bring about social change. Much of the guide focuses on the uses and applications of the ‘powercube' - an innovative conceptual tool that can be used for analysing power in processes of governance, in organisations and in society. The powercube combines a multi-faceted approach to dimensions of power, with a mapping of the spaces and levels in which these power relations occur.

The powercube is a flexible and adaptable tool that can be tailored to particular contexts and efforts to deepen participation or shift power relations. Its multiple dimensions of power, spaces and levels allow it to be used effectively in combination with other concepts, tools and methods for power analysis, some of which are also included in a powercube.net guide.

Why understand power?

At least three important trends affect how power relations are experienced in today's world. Firstly, changing patterns of globalisation are shifting the territorial and spatial relations of power, meaning that power must increasingly be understood not only at the local, national, or global level, but also in their inter-relationship.

Secondly, while many of the earlier debates on power focused on who participated in decision-making arenas of government at either local or national level, increasingly discussions about public authority have moved from government to governance. Governance is characterised by multiple intersecting actors, arenas and networks, and its arenas of power have become more varied and porous.

Thirdly, in recent years, with rapidly changing ideas about knowledge and new forms of communication, whose knowledge is seen as legitimate also affects how issues are constructed and how power is experienced. Growing awareness of the importance of gender relations has challenged us to link our understanding of public, private, intimate and other gendered dimensions of power in new ways.

Taking into account the complexity of social relations in development approaches

In the context of powercube.net, power can be viewed as a missing link that helps to explain why so many proposed development ‘solutions' fail in their application: economic growth does not adequately reach those living in poverty and many governance reforms fail to deliver in practice. It helps to explain the gap between theory and practice, so understanding power is a vital part of enabling change.

Attention to power is particularly acute for those who work in the area of strengthening peoples' participation in decisions that affects their lives. Spaces for participation are created from above, yet they do not lead to real change. New institutional forms of democracy are absorbed and reshaped by the context of power in which they sit. Participation is meaningless without addressing dynamics of power.

Development approaches often focus on linear ways of delivering change and put huge emphasis on quick wins, failing to understand the complexity of social relations. Attention to power relations, and whether policy and practice are addressing underlying issues of power and inequality, helps to challenge the linear and simplistic view, adding important dimensions to how results are defined and measured.

An expanding resource

Powercube.net is designed to grow and evolve with contributions from users, who are invited to share their own experiences, ideas and tools. Powercube.net has ‘creative commons copyright' so the content can be freely shared as long as it is attributed, not used for commercial purposes and made available to others in the same way. You can follow the guide on twitter as ‘powercube' or contact us at info@powercube.net.

Related Projects

• Powercube: Understanding power for social change - The powercube is an innovative conceptual tool used for understanding and analysing power in processes of governance, in organizations, and in social relationships (Ongoing)